IF NEGLIGENT, FINES NOT ENOUGH

If Negligent, Fines Not Enough

As we went to press Aug. 20, investigators were still looking at all the conditions that contributed to the deaths of Firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino while battling a fire in the gutted Deutsche Bank Tower two days earlier.

What already seemed apparent, however, was that shoddy work and possibly negligence on the part of a subcontractor doing demolition work on the building was a factor.

The John Galt Corporation had been given the task by the contractor, Bovis Lend Lease, but it has been reported that the subcontractor prior to the deadly blaze had been cited for 20 serious violations in the building by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, for which it faced $67,500 in fines.

One of the cruel ironies of last Saturday's tragedy was that one of those violations - involving the falling of a 22-foot metal pipe from the building's 35th floor into the neighboring firehouse of Engine Co. 10 and Ladder Co. 10 - figured into the problems the firefighters encountered.

Following that incident three months ago, plywood was placed in building windows to prevent similar occurrences. That plywood, along with plastic sheeting in the building, had the effect of sucking in air and allowing flames to build up, making them particularly noxious when they were released. (The two firefighters are believed to have died when heavy smoke inhalation caused them to suffer cardiac arrest.)

It is not yet known what caused the blaze, but at least one possibility is that it was an unextinguished cigarette. The New York Times quoted someone familiar with the investigation as saying that numerous cigarette butts were found inside the building even though workers were prohibited from smoking there.

What made the fire particularly difficult to control was that firefighters were unable to get water above the fifth floor, apparently because of a malfunctioning standpipe that caused massive flooding in the basement of the former bank. A spokeswoman for the contractor, Bovis, said the John Galt Corporation was supposed to maintain the standpipe to ensure that it worked properly.

Questions must be resolved about why, at a building monitored by both city and Federal inspectors, such conditions existed. The Skyscraper Safety Campaign, an advocacy group co-chaired by the mother of a Firefighter killed during the World Trade Center rescue efforts, has asked whether the subcontractor had a demolition permit from the city and whether a fire protection consultant was retained.

The group also called for the Governors of New York and New Jersey to order the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to voluntarily comply with the city's code-enforcement process.

The two heroes who gave their lives - as well as their fellow firefighters - deserve a thorough investigation that leads to corrective action, including tough enforcement, to avoid future messes like this one. And if there was negligence by the subcontractor, criminal penalties that include jail time for those responsible should and must be sought. Some companies find it too easy to skirt safety requirements and later pay fines as the cost of doing business. If their principals are aware they could wind up in prison cells, it could go a long way toward deterring such callousness.